Apparatus for aerosol packings



Feb. 17,1970 s. E. AQVIST I APPARATUS FOR AEROSOL PACKINGS Filed July 25, 19 8 2 sneaks-she t 2 APPARATUS FOR AEROSOL PACKIHGS Filed July 25, 1968 .2 Shets-Sheet 1 N i 01 N INVENTOR Sum fink 04"" ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,495,444 APPARATUS FOR AEROSOL PACKINGS Sven Erik Aqvist, 6 Varhemsgatan B, Orebro, Sweden Filed July 25, 1968, Ser. No. 747,640 Int. Cl. G01m 3/10 US. Cl. 73-412 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus for testing leaks in aerosol packings wherein the aerosol packings are passed through a temperature controlled water bath. A transfer system for conducting the aerosol packings down into the water bath has a central spindle disposed at right-angles to the base of the bath. The spindle carries a number of spokes from which there depends a cylindrical skirt equipped with projecting partition walls, As the spindle turns the projecting walls follow the base of the bath. A feed element feeds the aerosol packings between adjacent partition walls as the partitions come opposite a feed position disposed at the highest point reached by the cylindrical skirt and above the water level of the bath. A claw penetrating between the partition walls removes the aerosol packings when they come back to the highest point reached by the cylindrical skirt during rotation.

The present invention relates to improved apparatus for checking aerosol packings.

In the manufacture of aerosol packings, commonly referred to as sprays, it is necessary, prior to dispatch, to check the finished cans to ensure that they are main taining their pressure, are sealed and are properly filled.

This check is carried out by lowering the filled cans into water maintained at a specific temperature which the cans are calculated to withstand. At this time, a check is made to ensure that no gas bubbles are rising from the can and that the valve is sealing the can off properly. A check is also carried out to see whether the can floats up or not, if it does when this means that it has not been properly filled. When removed from the water, the can is inspected to ensure that it contains no distortion.

This check has in the past been a time-consuming and therefore relatively expensive business.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for the continuous and fully automatic execution of said check.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention but in no restrictive sense.

FIGURE 1 illustrates one embodiment of an arrangement in accordance with the invention, in plan; and

FIGURE 2 illustrates the same embodiment in vertical section taken on the line IIII of FIGURE 1.

A water bath 1 of circular form and an inclined base 8, is equipped with devices for maintaining a specific, high temperature, said devices for example taking the form of immersion-heater elements 2. The water bath 1 will for example be designed as a ring-shaped container and is equipped with a central, rotating spindle 3 carrying at its upper end a number of radial spokes 4, designed to project beyond the internal wall 21 of the bath 1. The spindle 3 is disposed at right-angles to the inclined base 8 of the bath 1, the inclination being such that said base rises above the water level 12 at one side, the level being maintained constant for example by means of a weir which is not shown, while the other side of the base 8 is deeper below the water level 12 and corresponds to the tallest spray can to be checked.

The spokes 4 carry a cylindrical skirt 6 which extends down to the vicinity of the base 8 of the Water bath 1.

3,495,444 Patented Feb. 17, 1970 The skirt 6 carries projecting partition walls 7 which will advantageously be formed by rows of pins.

At that side of the water bath 1 at Which the base 8 is at its highest position, the external wall 22 of the ath contains an opening.

A spindle 16 parallel with the spindle 3 and also rotatable, is located outside of and at a distance from said opening in the external wall 22 of the bath 1. The spindle 16 carries a circular disc disposed at right-angles to it, the periphery of which contains preferably two series f diametrally opposite openings 14 each designed to take a spray can 11. The disc 9 has portions 15, containing no openings, between the said series of openings 14.

The distance 10 between two adjacent partition Walls 7 and between skirt and external wall 22 of the Water bath 1, is so contrived that at least one of the largest spray cans 11 to be checked, can be accommodated there.

The disc 9 is designed for easy exchange, the openings 14 in each such disc being designed in each case to take a spray can 11 of a specific size, and the number of openings 14 between two neighboring zones 15 (in which there are no openings) corresponding with the number of cans 11 of the particular size which can be accommodated in the interspace 10 between two neighboring partition walls 7.

The spindles 3 and 16 are arranged to be rotated synchronously, in such a manner that the disc 9 feeds into each interspace 10 as many cans 11 as it can take. The cans 11 are passed by the disc 9 through a channel 20 with an inclined base and are prevented from leaving the openings 14 by the surrounding wall 23 as they are fed forward over a base 25 located beneath the disc 9. When the cans 11 arrive in front of the opening in the external wall 22 of the water bath 1, they are directed by a web 24 projecting out from the base 25, out of the openings 14- and into one of the interspaces 10.

Since, with rotation of the spindle 3, the partition walls 7 follow around the water bath 1, the cans 11 are slid over the base 8 of the bath 1 and are thus conducted below the water surface-12. Since the water in the bath 1 is kept at a constant high temperature, the cans 11 are brought to this temperature too so that the vapor pressure of the aerosol fluid rises and any leaks in the can are given away by the appearance of gas bubbles, and these cans can be taken out. On the way to the deepest part of the bath 1, the cans 11 are forced to follow the base 8 of the bath by guide plates 17 fixed to the external wall 22 of the bath 1 in such a way as to be capable of being raised or lowered. When the cans have passed the deepest part of the bath 1, they enter a zone without any guide plates and here, any cans 11 which have not been properly filled float up to a level higher than the others and they too can be removed.

When the cans 11 arrive back in the zone where the base 8 projects out above the water level 12, they are fed out of the interspaces 10, for example by curved claws 13 which project in between the pins 7 of the partition walls, and their bases are inspected so that cans with deformed bases can be rejected.

The spindles 3 and 16 can be designed to rotate conpressure, whether they are properly sealed and whether they are properly filled, said arrangement comprising a water bath with an inclined base and with arrangements for maintaining a specific temperature in said bath, plus a transfer system designed to conduct the spray cans down into the water bath and back up out of it, wherein the transfer system comprises a central spindle disposed at right-angles to the base of the water bath, said spindle carrying a number of spokes from which there depends a cylindrical skirt equipped with projecting partition Walls designed, with rotation of said skirt, to follow the line of the base of the bath, a feed element designed so that each time an interspace between two adjacent partition walls comes opposite a feed position disposed at the highest point reached by the skirt and above the water level of the bath, it feeds into said interspace a specific number of spray cans, and an arrangement for removing said spray cans from said interspaces when they come back to the highest point reached by the skirt during its rotation.

2. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, with guide plates disposed above the partition walls and designed to guide the spray cans so that they follow the base of the water bath, wherein the guide plates are so fixed that they can be raised or lowered in order to be adapted to the particular height of the cans being checked.

3. An arrangement as claimed in claim 2, wherein the guide plates are absent from the final zone of that section of the water bath in which the cans are still fully immersed, so that cans which have not been properly filled can float up above the others and can thus be detected and rejected.

4. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the partition walls are designed in the form of rows of pins.

5. An arrangement as claimed in claim 4, wherein the pins are swept slightly back in relation to the direction of rotation.

6. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the devices for feeding the cans out of the interspaces are in the form of claws penetrating between the pins.

7. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the water bath is in the form of an annular container.

8. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the feeder device is in the form of a fiat, circular disc with two series of diametrally opposite openings each designed to take one spray can.

9. An arrangement as claimed in claim 8, wherein the two series of openings are separated by two diametrally opposite zones containing no openings.

10. An arrangement as claimed in claim 8, wherein the disc is located upon a spindle dispmsed parallel to the spindle carrying the skirt.

11. An arrangement as claimed in claim 10, wherein the spindle carrying the disc is designed to rotate half a revolution for each angular increment of movement of the skirt spindle which corresponds to the angular interval between two neighbouring partition walls.

12. An arrangement as claimed in claim 11, wherein the spindles are arranged to rotate continuously.

13. An arrangement as claimed in claim 11, wherein the spindles are arranged to rotate step-by-step.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 528,987 ll/l894 Ranney 73-41.2 2,385,491 9/1945 Blair 73-41.2 3,350,919 11/1967 Mucci et al. 73-412 LOUIS R. PRINCE, Primary Examiner W. A. HENRY II, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 209-74, 121 

